What’s creating exorbitant special assessment fees?
Following the 2021 Surfside collapse — which killed 98 people in Miami due to construction flaws — regulations now require more frequent inspections of condo buildings, while many condo associations are raising fees to build a larger reserve for repairs.
Now, Florida state reforms require reserve and milestone studies and mandate annual contributions to reserves, but they only apply to units that are three stories or higher. The townhomes at the Villas aren’t condos — and they’re just two stories tall.
The HOA board said that insurance companies would no longer insure the complex in a few years if it didn’t have the necessary reserves to pay for new roofs.
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Read MoreNot everyone agrees it's necessary
But Patricia Staebler, a certified reserve specialist based in Sarasota, notes that a project’s time-equivalent cost should already be banked ahead of the renovation if the association wanted to avoid any special assessments.
Staebler says these reserve studies should help the board plan for the next fiscal year as well as subsequent years, building in an annual increase over a 30-year period. And while it’s unnecessary for the reserves to be “fully funded” — it is crucial that these yearly assessments are met with the appropriate full funding.
“There is a difference between being 100% funded and funding your reserve requirements for the upcoming fiscal year 100%,” she says. “I've been doing this for 15 years. In my entire reserve specialist career, I have not seen an association which is 100% funded.”
In the meantime, the community’s townhouse owners hope that postponing the vote may give them more time to gain some insight into why the special assessment fee is so high.
“So that we're able to get additional documentation, review all the financials, see how they got to these numbers,” Rodeffer said.
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